If You Picked Mizrachi or Kassela, You Have Some Serious Bragging Rights

By Chad Holloway

The Main Event final table is set, which means the 2010 World Series of Poker is on hiatus until November, but what a summer it has been. Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi redeemed himself by winning his first bracelet in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship and then becoming a member of the November Nine; Men “The Master” Nguyen won his seventh bracelet, tying him with Billy Baxter, while Gavin Smith finally got his first taste of WOP gold; and Dan Kelly took down the $25,000 Six-Handed Event, earning himself a spot in the “Brunson 10” in the process. All the while, Fantasy Poker enjoyed a year like none other. This year saw Fantasy Poker grow by leaps and bounds. There was the ever popular ESPN Fantasy League with the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Howard Lederer, Eric Baldwin and myself; Full Contact Poker (FCP) once again held its popular pick’em game, where participants chose a side of a matchup and tried to decide who would earn more throughout the WSOP; and Full Tilt Poker (FTP) hosted the most complex and comprehensive league in Fantasy Poker history. Most Fantasy Poker leagues, including FTP’s, are based upon how much money a player earns at the WSOP. This year, one name stood above the rest in Michael Mizrachi, who was a stud in any league based upon cash winnings even without the undetermined figure he will earn for his November Nine appearance. Likewise, Dan Kelly was thrust toward the top of the list after he took down the $25,000 buy-in event. In addition, new poker superstars emerged in Vladimir Shchemelev, a previously unknown banker from Russia, and Pascal Lefrancois, a young player from Quebec.

Here is a list of the top money earners in the 2010 WSOP (not including the Main Event final table):

On the opposite end of the spectrum are those pros who were skunked at the WSOP and didn’t earn a single dollar in open events. Among those were some of the biggest names in poker, including: Howard Lederer, Freddy Deeb, Gus Hansen, Doyle Brunson, Layne Flack, Kathy Liebert, Chris Moneymaker, Phil Laak and Joe Cada. Fantasy Poker players, myself included, expected many of these names to have a big year, only to be sorely let down; as a result, their value in future drafts has certainly deteriorated.

Those whose stock has gone up include the top performers in the WSOP Player of the Year race. Last year’s race was dominated by multiple bracelet winners and eventually won by Jeffrey Lisandro, who took home an astounding three bracelets. This year, there was only one multiple bracelet winner in Frank Kassela, who took home gold in the Seven-Card Stud High-Low Championship and the Seven-Card Razz event; in addition, he placed third in the $25,000 Six-Handed event and added three more cashes along the way. Kassela is a WSOP veteran (he was at the final table when Johnny Chan won his tenth bracelet) who finally had his breakout year.Another player who was on fire was the previously mentioned Michael Mizrachi. He started the summer with a victory in the $50,000 Players Championship and then added three more cashes, including two more final table appearances in Championship events. This doesn’t even include his performance in the Main Event, where he managed to make the final table and will compete for the World Championship – and poker’s biggest payday – in November. In fact, if Mizrachi can win the title, he will tie Kassela for P.O.Y. and share the title.These two players were without a doubt the biggest Fantasy Poker Studs in 2010.

WSOP Player of the Year Race

Frank Kassela 290 ptsJohn Juanda 225 ptsVladimir Shchemelev 210 ptsDan Heimiller 205 ptsMichael Mizrachi 190 pts*James Dempsey 185 ptsJeffrey Papola 180 ptsMen Nguyen 180 ptsRichard Ashby 180 pts*(not including Main Event) Many Fantasy Poker leagues award points based on the number of cashes a player amasses. This number is not always indicative of cash earned or tournaments won; instead, it is usually an indicator of consistency. Last year, Daniel Negreanu and David “Bakes” Baker had eight cashes apiece. This year, two more players managed to match that number in Canada’s Shawn Buchanan and Allen Kessler, with Buchanan netting more than twice as much in earnings.Although neither managed to nab a bracelet, they both showed they have what it takes to perform.

Full Contact Poker, which is Negreanu’s forum site, has hosted a variety of Fantasy Poker competitions over the years. FCP decided to do what they did last year and offer the popular free Fantasy Pool. This pool featured over 50 matches where players chose who they thought would win more money over the course of the WSOP (not including closed events and the Main Event).

A few examples of the matchups were Daniel Negreanu vs. Phil Ivey; Todd Brunson vs. Doyle Brunson; Phil Hellmuth vs. Erick Lindgren; and David “Devilfish” Ulliott vs. Eli Elezra.One point was awarded for each correctly predicted match. Unfortunately, I didn’t do too well, earning 25 points and tying for 784th place.Below is a list of the top performers, who each earned prizes. For a complete list of results, check out http://fullcontactpoker.com/wsop/.

Full Tilt PokerThe most popular Fantasy Poker league this year was the one hosted by FTP. In that league, participants chose 15 players for each tournament, five each for an “A,” “B,” and “C” team. The scoring was based on how much money the selection earned in the event. If they were on the “A” team, they would be awarded three times the amount they actually earned; likewise, they would earn twice as much if on the “B” team and the exact amount if on the “C” team.The impressive feature of this league was that it allowed participants to change their roster for each event right up until the start of the tournament. This option really brought it to the same level as other fantasy sports and favored those who put the most effort in. This included finding out who would be playing what events, usually by scouring blogs and Twitter accounts. The Main Event counts in that league, but the final standings have already been determined. This was done by awarding any players in the November Nine prize money according to their chip stack. For example, Mizrachi’s stack is in seventh place, so for the FTP league he will be awarded seventh place money. Luckily, I had Mizrachi on my “B” team along with some other players who did quite well. This allowed me to jump up a few hundred spots in the final event and finish the league in 343rd place (out of about 25,000 players).Another fun feature of this league is that it allows for participants to compete against various Full Tilt Pros. Below are some lists highlighting the current FTP Fantasy Poker Leaders and the performances of some VIPs:

FTP VIP Fantasy Poker Standings45. Perry Friedman……..$12,150,912343. DISCO_CHAD……..$8,891,904*401. Eric Froehlich………$8,677,6663017. Rob Hollink ……… $5,153,5983694. Berry Johnston …… $4,864,3053851. Joe Beevers……….. $4,799,0954480. Jordan Morgan…… $4,592,1347221. Steve Zolotow…….. $3,908,0368208. Andy Bloch.………. $3,715,55610880. Phil Gordon……….. $3,309,648*the author of this article This year’s Fantasy Poker season has been intense, and I haven’t even looked at my favorite league yet, which is the popular, highly publicized, invite-only ESPN Fantasy Poker league hosted by Andrew Feldman. It includes some of the top professionals in the poker world and I was given the opportunity to participate for Poker Pro magazine.How did I do? Well, let me just say that I had Mizrachi and Jason Somerville on my team, both of whom earned me a load of points. In a future article, I will write an in-depth report on the 2010 ESPN Fantasy League with player insights and reveal how I managed to do against the best in the business.

Chad Holloway is a semi-professional poker player from Baraboo, Wisconsin, who specializes in Fantasy Poker. He covered the 2010 World Series of Poker and currently writes poker material for Predictem.com and is a featured blogger at UnaBomberPoker.com.